The Supreme Court has called out the rampant profiteering in the healthcare sector, including cancer medication. Terming the overpricing of essential cancer medicines as “broad, daylight dacoity”, the court said, “This is carnage. Plain and simple. The cancer drug is priced at an MRP of Rs 27,000 despite being supplied to retailers for Rs 2,700.” Ten times higher markup! It also suggested capping the profit margin for all medicines at 16%.
India’s cancer burden is growing at an alarming rate. Every year, we record 15.6 lakh new cancer cases, and 9 lakh deaths due to cancer. More than 90% of India’s working population doesn’t have a stable or formal employment. A majority of them are not adequately covered by health insurance. Taken together, this means high out of pocket expenditure for treatment, which imposes a huge economic burden on the patient’s family.
A recent survey showed that the overall prevalence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) was 80.4% due to outpatient treatment. Clearly, the stratospheric costs of medicines, diagnostics and consultation fees are unsustainable for most Indians.
Doesn’t the government have a responsibility here? Why can’t off-patent drugs be made cheaper? Can centralised, pooled procurement, and value-based pricing improve affordability of cancer care in India?
Guest: Dr. Indranil, Professor at the School of Government and Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University.
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Producer and editor: Jude Weston
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Published - October 05, 2026 06:43 pm IST